June 12th 2025
Supported value-based care improves prenatal care while reducing neonatal intensive care unit stays, preterm birth rates, low birth weight rates, and costs for mothers and infants.
A targeted effort to make hospital cesarean delivery rates transparent and understood by women increased their awareness of this important quality measure, but did not drive them to choose hospitals with lower rates, according to a new study in The American Journal of Managed Care®.
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Does Comparing Cesarean Delivery Rates Influence Women’s Choice of Obstetric Hospital?
This randomized controlled trial finds that a hospital cesarean delivery rate comparison tool affects women’s perceptions but not where they choose to deliver.
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Maternal Deaths, and Disparities, Become a Grassroots Cause
February 2nd 2019Rates of maternal deaths have climbed over a generation in the United States while falling in other developed countries. African American women are more than 3 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. A new federal law and efforts in states like New Jersey seek to turn the tide.
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Maternal Stroke Risks at Delivery Include Infections, Race, Preliminary Research Finds
February 1st 2019Stroke-related health risks of giving birth are highlighted in 2 posters that will be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2019, being held February 6-9, 2019, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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African American Women Are at a Disadvantage in Preventing Breast Cancer
January 16th 2019Breast cancer risk estimation models identify women who are at high risk based on a variety of factors, and women who are identified as being at high risk may be able to reduce their chance of breast cancer through preventative measures such as prophylactic surgeries or chemoprevention medications. However, uptake of these preventative treatments varies among racial groups, new research from The Ohio State University finds that racial disparities in healthcare are to blame.
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Cervical Cancer Screening Rates "Unacceptably Low," Researchers Find
January 10th 2019Less than two-thirds of women aged 30 to 65 years were up to date with cervical cancer screenings in 2016. The percentage was even lower for women aged 21 to 29, with just over half up to date on screenings.
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US Women Dying in Childbirth but Spending More on Healthcare, Under Stress, Report Finds
December 28th 2018The Commonwealth Fund report compared the status of health and healthcare for women in the United States to that of 10 other wealthy countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Australia.
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Researchers Improve Knowledge of PCOS With Discovery of 3 More Genes
December 27th 2018Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 10% of women, but it is often misdiagnosed or missed entirely by physicians. Now, researchers have identified the genetic underpinnings of the syndrome, including 3 new loci, a causal link to depression, and a male phenotype for PCOS.
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Longer Breastfeeding Duration Shown to Reduce Waist Size Over the Long Term
December 20th 2018Women who breastfed for longer than 6 months had a smaller waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) compared with women who have not breastfed or have breastfed for a shorter duration, according to the results of a recent study.
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Canadian Health Agencies Release Physical Activity Guidance During Pregnancy
December 1st 2018The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology have released consensus guidelines that will provide guidance for pregnant women as well as their clinical care providers on prenatal physical activity.
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Quality Antenatal Care Lacking in Low-Income Countries
November 27th 2018Patients in low-income countries receive similar antenatal care coverage as patients in high-income countries. However, they receive inequitable quality of antenatal care for 3 essential services: blood pressure monitoring, urine and blood tests, according to a study published in Lancet Global Health.
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Inflammatory Disease Activity, Corticosteroid Use Increase Risk of Preterm Delivery
November 24th 2018Rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis increase the risk of preterm delivery (PTD) in pregnant women. Additionally, treatment with corticosteroid can lead to a 2- to 5-fold increased risk of PTD in both groups, independent of disease activity.
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Ultrasound Safer Than MRI to Monitor Rheumatoid Arthritis in Pregnancy
November 20th 2018Ultrasounds are a safer and equally effective diagnostic tool compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose and monitor pregnant women with suspected active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a new report published in Radiology Case Reports.
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Higher BMI Decreases Risk of Breast Cancer in Premenopausal Women
November 15th 2018A large pooled analysis of 758,592 premenopausal women, conducted by the Premenopausal Breast Cancer Collaborative Group, identified an inverse association between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of breast cancer.
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ACR Study: Childhood Abuse Increases the Risk of Lupus in Women
November 12th 2018Systemic lupus erythematosus, characterized by systemic inflammation in multiple organs, has a higher probability of being diagnosed in women who experienced emotional or physical abuse when growing up, according to a study presented at the 2018 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/The Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals Annual Meeting.
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Multiethnic Study Identifies Factors That Predispose Midlife Women to Cardiometabolic Risk
November 9th 2018Modifiable factors, including lower caloric intake, greater physical activity, and smoking cessation, have been associated with recovery from metabolic syndrome, according to the results recently published following a multiethnic study.
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DASH Diet Leads to Decreased Gestational Weight Gain
November 8th 2018A randomized clinical trial in obese or overweight pregnant women evaluating the use of a modified diet regimen shows a beneficial effect of a modified Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on gestation weight gain compared with usual care.
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